Heaven Bound
by nigglesnush
Summary: Set after Ultimate XMen 40, Warren and Ororo talk and take to the skies. Implied WarrenOroro. Now updated with author's notes.


**Heaven Bound**

She'd called him beautiful. It was strange to have that word ascribed to him, a boy his parents couldn't even stand to look at. He had never thought of himself as beautiful. But she'd said he was, and in spite of everything he'd been conditioned to think, he believed her.

He came down from his daily flight one morning and found her sitting under a tree in the garden. She was bent over a notebook, scribbling away furiously. Even from where Warren stood, he could see the tears glistening in her eyes.

He had a good idea what caused those tears. He'd sensed the tenseness between Ororo and Beast. He and the other students had even overheard the tail end of an argument between them. It sounded as though Beast discussing the X-Men's business online was only the latest of the problems they'd been having. Warren asked no one about it; it wasn't his business. But he didn't like seeing how disgusted and tired Ororo was after the fight.

He now stood awkwardly to one side of the garden, unsure if he could leave without calling attention to himself. As if in answer, she raised her head and said to him,

"Are you staying or going?"

He opted to stay, and walked up to her. As he sat beside her, she moved the notebook off her lap. Warren saw that the pages were filled with heavy, angry-looking handwriting. She closed the notebook shut and turned to look directly at him.

"So how do you find life here so far?" she asked.

Warren bent his head back to look up at the sunlight filtered by the leaves of the tree sheltering them.

"It's weird," he answered truthfully, "being around people again. People who aren't paid to look after me, that is."

He watched her expression, and was surprised to find that the corners of her lips were twitching into an ironic smile.

"What?" he asked.

Ororo shook her head, and her startling white hair fell loose from her shoulders.

"Nothing," she said. "It's just that… well, it was weird for me too at first," she said. "It felt strange having people looking out for me for a change."

"What do you mean?"

"My parents and I moved to New York from Morocco," Ororo explained. "We lived in a rough neighborhood, in a ratty little apartment. When I was thirteen, they were killed in a drive by shooting.

"Since I was an illegal immigrant, my neighbors told me it would be better for me to run away before I was sent back to Morocco," she went on. A cloud of grief had settled over her eyes. "I made it all the way to Texas and back before I was brought to the Institute."

Warren was silent as he stared straight down at the ground. He felt like kicking himself. What right did he have to feel bad about his upbringing when the girl who was sitting next to him had had a life a hundred times harder?

She seemed to know what he was thinking because she said,

"How's that for a sob story? Don't feel bad, Warren. Past is past. What happened to me doesn't make what happened to you less worse. No kid deserves to be unloved. However bad things got, I always remembered that my parents loved me at least."

He felt her fingers on his hair, hesitantly, cautiously clearing it away from his face.

"You wanna cut out of here?" she asked, giving him a smile that, while sad, was sincere.

A few minutes later, Warren was soaring high above the Institute again. Ororo flew at his side. He closed his eyes and let the wind wash over his body. As he'd told Ororo, he loved to fly, and this was the reason: here there was freedom. There were no barriers, no baggage, and no pain. Here, it was just them.

As if guided by some mutual instinct, they came to the cliff where they had first spoken. They descended on it together and sat on the edge of the precipice just as they had before.

Ororo was breathless, but she looked utterly, undeniably happy. Perhaps without knowing it, she reached out and clasped his hand.

There was silence between them, warm and golden as sunlight. When Warren finally spoke, he said the first and truest thing he could think of.

"You're… beautiful."

He wondered if she realized that these were her own words. Her knowing smile told him she did.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Since a handful of people seemed curious to know whether or not I would write more of this story, I decided to add a post-script. The answer, unfortunately, is no. I've lost interest in Ultimate X-Men, especially with the direction the book has been taking. It's unlikely I'll be writing any more Ultimate X-Men fan fiction. However, I still plan on finishing my first Ultimate X-Men story, "I Was a Teenage Freak" (which has been languishing in unwritten hell for a while now). And for those who are interested, I _have_ written another Warren / Ororo story. It's rated NC-17 and can be found in my personal fan fiction archive, which I've linked to in my profile. As the rating suggests, it's an adult story, so people should exercise caution in reading it. If you do decide to read it, drop me a line and let me know what you think.

Cheers!


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